[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 138 (Thursday, October 2, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1969]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           INTRODUCTION OF THE KEEPING FAMILIES TOGETHER ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. PATRICK J. KENNEDY

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 2, 2003

  Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. Speaker, the term ``family values'' 
can be politically loaded, but there is nobody in this body who doesn't 
want to strengthen families. Likewise, I am confident there is nobody 
in this body who would not be horrified by the prospect of parents 
being forced to turn custody of their children over to state 
bureaucrats as a condition of meeting their basic health needs. 
Nevertheless, each year thousands of families are broken up because 
parents are forced to relinquish their custody rights to the state in 
order to obtain mental health services for their children.
  Forty years ago, my uncle, President Kennedy, signed legislation 
intended to allow people with mental illnesses to gain their dignity 
back, and to get out of warehouse-like institutions and back into the 
communities where they belong. The bill my colleagues, Mr. Stark, Mr. 
Ramstad and I are introducing today, the Keeping Families Together Act, 
is submitted in the same spirit.
  Services to treat mental disorders in children are expensive and 
private insurance tends to run out after a few months, leaving parents 
unable to afford the cost. Without any other way to get their kids the 
treatment they need, parents all too often must choose between custody 
and care. The General Accounting Office reported in April that parents 
in 19 states were forced to place 12,700 children in state welfare or 
juvenile justice agencies in 2001 in order to obtain mental health 
services for them. Unfortunately, this estimate is considered to be 
low, because 31 states did not respond to the survey.
  The problem is not about resources per se; the fact is, we're still 
spending lots of money, but instead of spending it to keep families 
together, we're tearing families apart. Clearly, we already have enough 
broken families in this country--the last thing we should be doing is 
breaking up more. It's cruel and barbaric to force children out of 
their families and it's inhumane to give a mom or dad the Hobson's 
choice between their child's health and safety or custody. It is 
unconscionable that we frequently reward the parents who make this 
ultimate sacrifice by treating them like common criminals. The current 
situation is not only awful for the parents. It's also hard to imagine 
any more counterproductive thing to do to children with serious 
emotional disturbances than to make them feel rejected by their 
parents.
  The Keeping Families Together Act will provide competitive grants to 
states to help eliminate the problem of forced parental custody 
relinquishment of such children. Ultimately, it will facilitate the 
design of care for these most desperate children, so that when a moment 
of crisis occurs there is an alternative to the child welfare and 
juvenile justice systems. It will build on existing resources to 
develop an improved system of care through a collaborative process 
including required state and private partners, as well as other 
entities that the governor of the state determines appropriate.
  In proposing the community mental health services act in 1963, 
President Kennedy said that our long history of neglect of the mentally 
ill must end, ``if our Nation is to live up to its own standards of 
compassion and dignity.'' As long as we continue to pull families apart 
as a condition for receiving mental health care, we are failing our own 
standards. I look forward to working with my colleagues in both Houses, 
from both parties, to end this blight.

                          ____________________